Flawed Design
by waywardgirl94
Summary: This is a love story for Fred Weasley and my own character, Willow Fay. The best way to describe is it starts in the universe of Book/Movie 5 and I'm taking bits and pieces from both movie and book materials.
1. Prologue

**Flawed Design**

 _ **Dear Future Willow,**_

 _ **As you know we are currently 10. I hope this is our awkward stage so we can be beautiful and 16 because everyone knows 16 is the best year of a girls life. Not only will it be on Halloween but we will be at Hogwarts, we'll have tons of friends and a popular boyfriends with you as the most popular girl in school!**_

 _ **Don't screw it up!**_

 _ **Willow Fay, Age 10**_

My Mom had found that stupid letter I wrote to myself five years ago. It definitely make me consider how much of a dreamer my ten year old self was.

This past summer I had been tanning and holding up as much as an England summer would let me in my family's cabin on Round Island in the Isles of Scilly. Even with this summer actually being warm and sunny enough to relax it didn't stop my dread to return to school come September.

Unlike my letter so-predicted, I was not living it up so fabulously. I was turning sixteen in two months, I would be in sixth year at Hogwarts, I had maybe two friends at school, still no boyfriend. I've never even been kissed and to top it all off, I definitely did not go through my awkward phase yet. I mean if I did have an awkward phase, it hasn't ended yet.

It was August 20th, which meant I left for school in 12 days, on that train exactly at 11 AM. I haven't nothing against my school, really, Hogwarts is a wonderful place. Filled with magical secrets, floating candles, the people who come from all walks of life! Some so brave with fiery hair that even just looks like a lion mane or hair so slick it feels like a snake skin, get it? Gryffindor and Slytherin? I'm quite the catch.

I'm a proud Hufflepuff, I wear my yellow and black even when I'm off school grounds. I've always embraced my loyal yet very introverted nature, being open minded and strong willed but I've never felt a huge connection to magic. I've always felt just a little -

"Ordinary!" It's like my parents knew what was going through my brain sometimes, always a weird time when that happens... both my parents were sitting with my at our kitchen table. My father, Nathaniel Fay was reading his Daily Prophet.

Nathaniel Fay was a very tall man, 6'5 to be exact. His height and the harsh angles in his face made him a very intimidating man, which worked very well for him since he was one of the most feared and respected Aurors for the Ministry of Magic. It always makes our family laugh because my father was a Hufflepuff through and through. He's a teddy-bear in human form!

"Ordinary dear?" I hate that word... "Boring paper today my love?" My Mother looked over her mug.

I've always hated that stupid word... when you have an older sister who left at 17 and is off travelling all kinds of places in both different worlds, it can make you feel just a little -

"ORDINARY! The daily prophet is calling Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter oridinary. Albus Dumbledore is the best wizard – NO the most extraordinary wizard ever in this day and age!" These days our ministry was pretty divided. Either you were with Dumbledore or you were spreading the rumors against him. The Daily Prophet was clearly being controlled by the against side, our very own Minister. "and that Potter boy-"

"Harry potter is nothing special. No point in wasting any news space on that bloke." I chimed in with a rather snippy tone; but hey I'm fifteen it's allowed if not expected!

"Willow, what do you mean? Harry Potter is the boy who lived! He saved millions, magical and muggles!" My parents were very pro Dumbledore, my mother was REALLY pro Potter, she's always been one who believed in prophecies and fate, so imagine the boy who saved us once, he's her golden boy.

Before starting a family, before my parents even knew each other they were both rising up through the Ministry. My mother was flying through the ranks before little old me popped up.

Lena Fay! Maiden name, Lena Guthro. She was top of her class for all seven years through Hogwarts as a shiny brave Ravenclaw. She was just promoted to being the Minister's right hand woman when I popped up.

"It's just, the last time I saw Potter was when popped up holding Cedric Diggory's body and every single year there's always something happening to Potter and it takes over the school! It's just annoying I guess." I shrugged picking at my eggs.

"Diggory was a huge tragedy. It was also a huge awakening for the world about You Know Who... Willow come now, Potter brought our world the truth!" My mother always was very kind, and beautiful!

I was very lucky because I was a spitting image of her, we both had wavy hair, mine fell far down my back, my Mother's cut her to her chin but both of us, the color of the sand on our island. We had the same olive eyes that in the sun were so vibrant and in the winter were dark and almost hazel. The biggest aspect that separated us was our heights.

My mother was the size of a pixie, I passed her height when I was 12. I tapped into my fathers height in my gene pool. Have you ever tried being a five foot ten woman? Pants are the enemy, the skirts from Hogwarts don't do many favors for me either.

"Riiiight." I dragged out the world while both my parents watched me, "Are we going to Diagon Alley today!?" I pulled out the biggest grin I could muster.

Today was a very important day. Since I wouldn't get to see my family for my birthday, I had been promised that as part of my supply shop in Diagon Alley I got to pick a pet to bring with me! I had been bothering my poor parents for a pet for years. So many years I'm pretty sure it had been before I really knew was Hogwarts was, I just wanted a cute fuzzy creature to love.

My mother jumped up and a smile, "Of course darling! Willow go get your things, Nathaniel clean your crumbs!" I ran to the doorway and looked back for just a second. My parents were really in love... as I watched my mom wipe my fathers face with a smile that was pure admiration he stood up and kissed her. I always loved their story, it was short one but it was still pretty cute.

 _Nathaniel Fay and Lena Guthro almost killed each other after meeting for the first time. It was Lena's first week as the Minister Eugenia Jenkins 's newest Secretary and as such, the Minister had been giving her hell to see if this one would be able to prove herself._

 _The Minister had been dodging Nathaniel for weeks because he had a new tactic to hunt for escaped prisoners and evil wizards with warrants. Sadly he was a new bumbling auror who hadn't proved himself and therefore Minister Jenkins wouldn't see him._

 _One day, on the Friday of Lenas first week, Nathaniel decided he wouldn't take no for an answer on this day. He was getting a meeting and he knew all he had to do was wait for the pretty girl that he had been watching to take a bathroom or lunch break and he would have his chance to sneak into the Ministers office._

 _Lena had gotten up to throw out some trash before Minister Jenkins would leave for her own lunch to which Lena would follow but never eat, never speak just watch and take notes. When she rounded the corner Nathaniel sprang into motion._

"Oh no you don't!" Lena reappeared in front of Nathaniel, want up and an angry look in her eye. The first time Nathaniel had really looked at Lena he looked from the tip of her wand up to her little pointed nose.

 _"You're beautiful!" Nathaniel gasped in a very dumbfounded accent. Lena scoffed at the buffoon lying on his back looking scared and yet bewildered by the woman standing over him._

 _"I know all about you Nathaniel Fay! I am the tenth assitant to sit at that desk and I won't be the last but I will not get kicked out because you're trying to charm me to get in and pitch one of your pointless ideas!" Lena snapped._

 _As she snapped at him, Nathaniel slowly reached into his coat and tried to throw a gadget that in theory would blow enough smoke in her face that he could crawl under,_

 _"Oh no my dear your beauty really does take my breath but I really need in to see your boss. Sorry about this!" He threw the regular Muggle smoke bomb at the woman's feet only to have nothing happen. "Oh..."_

 _"I swear... HOW are you an Auror!?" Lena snapped and booted him with her heel, "You will NOT get into see The Minister without an appointment! Now,_ _Petrificus Totalus." Suddenly Nathaniel's limbs straightened out and he couldn't move. Lena stood over him with a smirk and pushed a button on her desk._

Two guards came into the office and nodded their heads to Lena who leaned on their desk and proceeded to drag a young, lanky, newbie of an auror who wasn't even upset that he didn't get a chance to talk to the Minister, or that he got beat by a woman... he was baffled that this sassy secretary saw through his tactic and still did her job.

 _In the weeks that followed Nathaniel stopped by every day and started to leave sweets at her desk, asking her out every day until one day where she threw the sweet back at his face and then threw a chocolate bar at him and told him he could pick her up on Friday at 7._

 _"_ We'll have to stop at the house first." My mother gathered me with my bag and my father was padding down his jacket, looking for last minute things.

We had two houses that we bounced between in each world. Growing up my parents always thought it was important to know of everyone's history, purebloods VS half blood, muggle born wizards and witches. Even the culture the muggle world had. My sister and I went to a muggle school until we each got our Hogwarts letter and every summer when I'm out of school we stay at our cabin on a Muggle Island in England but during the school year and for Holidays we stayed at our house in the wizard world.

The only weird catch is not many people knew we were brought up this way. If we were questioned, diplomatic answers were given. My family would go to bat when it counted but to keep the peace at places like the Ministry and for my own sake at school it was easier to not take any side, to be known a pure blood family and not a blood-traiting family. Appearance isn't everything but it does mean a lot.

If you ever read those goofy romantic Muggle books, it's the same as the cool popular boy ( _aka my family_ ) liking the nerdy girl ( _Muggle borns and their world._ )

 _ **FIN**_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

"There's just so many!" I gushed walking through the shop for what seemed like the 10th time.

"Willow Alessandra Fay." This was always a favorite tone for my mother. I always knew I was near the end or one step too far off her patience when my full name came out, but when she dragged each name out she was tired and irritated. There was always a way to get out of my trouble though.

I looked over my shoulder at her, my eyes big and sad. It only took a second because she sighed, "Just pick one! We've been here for almost an hour and your father is getting the wrong idea!" We both looked across the store and saw my lovable oaf of a father rubbing his face on kittens.

"It's not that simple!" I whined, everyone knows when it comes to pets they choose you.

The closest that I got to one is for the last few minutes this tiny black kitten with a orange patch on its chest. He fit in the palm of my hand, was lying on my arm and purring while staring at me with what I'm assuming is love.

Without warning there was a loud band outside the store which spooked my new friend right out of my arms and because lady luck has never really been on my side, the same time the ball of fur jumped a very young boy came into the shop. Looking for an owl for his first year no doubt. Either way the little snot provided the perfect escape. I bolted after it like a bat out of hell because that was totally my new fur beast, I just knew it.

I came to a fork in road with an abandoned building to my left and the other half of Diagon Alley just across the way. I looked around frantically and saw a little black tail skirt around the corner. I ran around the corner and saw my new friend sneak through a gap in the back door.

"I haven't even named you yet and you're causing me a ton of trouble." I hissed under my breath. To my surprise the back door was open, as I crept up the stairs I saw how dusty everything was, clearly whatever business that was here left a long time ago. "The one pet I find that probably likes me and you RUN AWAY!" I yelled beyond frustrated, I made it to the top of the stairs and saw two tall ginger boys staring at me, each with a smirk on their identical faces.

"We certainly won't run away from you but I don't know how I feel about being called a pet. What about you George?" I saw the one, presumably not-called George was holding my soon-to-be cat.

"Haha, yes, yes laugh at the crazy rambling girl who tours abandoned buildings. Can I have my cat back now?" I moved closer only to have the man smirk down at me. They had to be close to 6'4. There aren't many that are taller than me, being 5'10 is no joke.

"But see how do we know this is your cat? Cats who love their owners don't run away." The other one called George had quite the sassy tone but they don't know who they're dealing with. "Do I know you? I feel like I've seen you before..." My eyes tried to roll themselves back into my scull but I just wanted my bloody cat.

"Well considering I'm clearly not a grown up and I'm not under the age of 11, let's go over the reasons I would be in Diagon Alley at the end of August, shall we? Now why… why would I look familiar? Let's try out a theory, I'm clearly a teenager here getting supplies for where all three of us go to school no doubt. As for the fur beast you're holding from me, we haven't bonded yet because as we were the poor guy leaped from my arms and we ended up here." I stopped to take a breath, "SO, if you could hand me back MY new cat, whatever you two blokes are doing in this abandoned building can proceed and I'll go back to not caring." I held out my arms, my thumbs poking out from the holes at the end of my sleeves.

Both boys watched me with a mix of surprise and amusement. I knew they were Weasley of some sort but honestly there were so many it's almost impossible to keep track. They did look familiar though. Slowly the ginger not-George handed my cat over and I nodded.

"See you never!" I said softly as I quickly made my way down the stairs and back to the pet shop where I saw my parents sitting in together starring at a small white ball.

"Oh Willow, you've found a good one yes?" I looked around the store… I must've been gone for 10 minutes… and my parents act like I just went to the loo. They got trapped by their own fur ball!

"Yup, this little bum!" My mother waved her wallet at me while humming something along the lines of that's nice. "You're getting one too aren't you?" I challenged with a grin spreading across my lips.

My father sprung up holding the little beast,

"Will, look at her little face!" The kitten's nose was touching mine, forcing my eyes to cross. "We'll need something when you're gone again." With that my father snatched the wallet from my fingers and marched to the desk and started pointing at me, with my cat and his own.

"You guys survived five years, what changed?" I shrugged at my mom who just smiled.

"Nothing, your father trapped me into a cat, that's all. What are you going to name him?" She stroked the little sleeping beasts head. I felt a purr erupt from his body and titled my head,

"I like Silas." My mother kissed my cheek

I know everyone loves the train, and I guess when you can score an empty compartment then it's basically a solo road trip where you aren't driving. Road trips are great when you have friends and don't get me wrong I'm not some loner-like girl with no friends! Hufflepuffs are cool but my one really good friend wasn't even in my house.

Laurel Eleanor Cole, she's basically the milk in my tea and I don't just say that because she's as pale as snow. Growing up our parents were friends and when we started at Hogwarts together we had the unfortunate heartbreak that we were sorted into different houses. As mentioned I went to the shy yet bold Hufflepuffs and then she was carted off to Ravenclaw which I wasn't all that surprised... she's a know-it-all, but she's quite adorable about it so it flies.

It wasn't that hard to find way to spend time together, in our first year we found an old charm to create the illusion that our robes would appear a certain color for a few minutes and we vowed to exchange common room passwords.

"Oi! Way to wait for a girl before boarding!" The door banged open and my lovely elegant friend tried not to fall on top of me as the train moved. "You always pick the further damn compartment!" She huffed. When she settled she tried to smooth her reddish brown hair.

"I liked our hidden compartments! We don't get bothered here." I argued. "Plus Mum was in a hurry today, they're obsessing over their new kitten." I rolled my eyes and a smirk lit up Laurel's face. Her eyes always seemed to light up despite them being quite gray.

"Where is he..." Her smile was kind of creeping me out, when she got excited over things and got that sneaky grin it always made me think of the chesire cat that Lewis Carol describes in Alice in Wonderland.

"He? He who?" I was just being mean, I knew exactly who she wanted to see. If the world thought I loved cats, the world had never gotten acquainted with Laurel Cole. Her entire family, except her, were extremely allergic to cats. She's been waiting for my birthday as much as a kid waits for Christmas morning.

"I will middle name you." Her smirk turned evil and I sighed heavily.

"Silas!" I called out, within a few seconds and little black puff jumped down from the trunk space above us. A squeal came from the girl on the bench across from me. 'We've been working on that since I got him. I call him and if he's close he appears on my lap." My smile was big and proud like a Mum. "I forgot a bottle, I'm gonna go look for the trolley for a pumpkin juice or something, want any?" Laurel had already picked my little ball of fur up and snuggled it up to her face.

"No! Go, we need bonding time." I couldn't help but laugh as I slid the door open. "Now listen up little man, I'm your Auntie Laurel, I'm family so you don't get to decide if that's okay."

Those whispers were the last thing I heard as I slid the door closed.

It didn't take long before I heard the lady with the trolley calling out to people. I met up in the line and flipped the coins in my fingers.

It really doesn't take long before my brain starts to drift away and I go into autopilot... it's always nice until someone sticks themselves in my view like another giant person with a lot of red hair.

"What?" I snapped, I was a little startled. One of the weird twins from Diagon Alley was standing behind me and bent his head over my shoulder. You'd think being as tall as I am I wouldn't get so spooked but you know what? Elephants are huge and get spooked! 

"I asked you where the fur ball was? I remember you this time, you're quite sassy." I honestly couldn't tell you if this was not-George or George but I can say I had very little patience for this person.

"I have a theory... want to hear it?" I smiled nicely at him and he motioned for me to continue.

"I always need a good laugh." My nice smile turned a little sour,

"Startling a daydreamer is similar to waking a sleepwalker. They aren't responsible for any actions they might commit." He folded his arms and smirked at me.

"And what actions are you talking about? You didn't do anything." I pointed out pumpkin juice and handed the women my coins.

"This time. See you around Weasley." I started walking down the hall and I heard him call out.

"I don't know your name, how is that fair?"

"Who said I know your name?" I spun around, trying to keep my cool only to have a a door handle catch my skirt and trip me into a compartment.

 _ **FIN**_


End file.
